Knuckles drove the car as quickly as he could after they left the docks, and was making his way to the highway out of the city along with the other three. As they drove, Tails pulled up the microphone and spoke into it.

"This is the freelancers to Green Hill, do you copy?"

"We do indeed," replied Espio on the other side. "What do you need help with?"

"First of all, it's good to hear from you again," Tails said. "Secondly, we heard that there was a carjacking earlier. Can you give us a location?"

"Same here," Espio replied with a smile. "And I'm not sure. We did have a car tracking them, but they lost them. The only details that we have is that the car is dark green in colour, and and it's huge, so possibly an SUV or something along those lines."

"Did we get a license plate?" Knuckles asked.

"GH89 UUR."

"So, the car belongs to a Green Hill resident?" asked Knuckles.

"It seems that way," said Espio.

"Do we know how many people stole the car?" Sonic asked. "And were the owners hurt?"

"No, they're fine," Espio said. "A little beat up, but they're okay. And from what I know, there were just two guys."

"All right, thanks," Sonic said. "We'll get back to you later when it's all over, okay?"

"Take care," the purple chameleon replied. "Over and out."

"I ain't in the mood to drive all over the highway to find these ass-holes," Knuckles said. "We need to narrow it down somehow."

"Well, let's check near the entrance to the highway," Shadow suggested. "That was where the family was found, right?"

"Well, we're almost there now," Tails said, looking up ahead.

Knuckles nodded and continued driving, seeing that they weren't too far off from the entrance to the highway. As they approached it, they saw a Green Hill cop car on the side of a road just a few feet before it.

"I'll go talk to them," said Sonic. "Keep the car running. I'll be back soon."

"Go for it, oh fearless leader," Knuckles smirked.

The blue hedgehog chuckled, walking over to the police car and saw two human officers next to it, talking to the people that had been carjacked. As Sonic approached, the cops looked up at him.

"Ah," said the first. "Was wondering when you'd show up."

"I go where the wind takes me," Sonic shrugged.

"You going after those thieves?" asked the other cop.

"Will be soon," Sonic nodded. "But I wanted to talk to the owners quickly. It won't take too long."

"Take your time," said the second cop. "We've already talked to them enough."

Sonic nodded again. "Thanks." He turned to the owners, who were a young human couple, in their mid-to-late twenties. "So, what happened?" Sonic asked, noticing the injuries of the humans. Just a couple of light bruises, but still enough to hurt.

"We were on our way back home from visiting some family in Star Light, when a couple of guys held us up at gunpoint," said the male. "We said no initially, but they forced us out and beat on us a bit before taking the car."

"Did nobody else try to stop them?" Sonic asked.

"There weren't many people around," said the female.

Sonic nodded. "Any idea where they went?"

"No," said the female. "Last I checked, they were going up on the freeway."

"We would have gone after them," one of the cops said, "but we thought it best to look after the owners."

"All right, thanks for your help," Sonic said to the cops, before turning back to the car-deprived couple. "You two just stay put, and we'll get your car back."

"Are you a cop?" asked the male.

"Used to be," the blue hedgehog replied as Knuckles honked his car's horn. "It's complicated, and the more time that I spend wagging my chin, the further the bad guys could be. Sorry. Got to go."

"Thanks for the help!" the male called.

"Any time!" Sonic replied as he rushed back to the car. He hopped in, and Knuckles sped off up the highway as quickly as he could.

"Did they not know where they might be going either?" Shadow asked.

"No," Sonic shook his head. "I assume that the cops asked the same and got the same response. They got here not long after, but didn't get to chase the bad guys since they were looking after the people who owned the car."

"Good thing we're here to sort that part out then," Knuckles said. "I guess we're running this one solo, huh?"

"Unless the police force of whatever city we wind up in helps us," Tails said.

It was then that the microphone sounded off, and the yellow fox picked it up. "Come in?"

"Hello?" said a voice on the other side. "Is this Sonic?"

"No, it's Tails," replied the fox, recognising the accent. "Is this Dingo?"

"One and the same, mate!" the Aussie replied happily. "Listen, I just got a call from Ash that there was a carjacking. Are you close?"

"We had a slight delay in asking the owners of the car some questions," Tails replied, "but we're on the highway now. About halfway across."

"Ah, right," said Dingo. "Well, just thought that I'd let you know that the bad guys are here, right now."

"Whereabouts are they?" asked Sonic.

"They just got to the city," said Dingo. "One of our speed patrols caught them off guard and was chasing them, but he got knocked off of his bike. He'll be fine, though."

"All right, we're on our way," said Knuckles. "Over and out."

Sonic nodded. "Looks like we'll have to speed up if we want to catch these douche-bags."

"Yeah," Tails spoke. "Who knows how far into the city they could be right now?"

"Let's get there and find out," said Knuckles, stepping on the gas and driving faster.

In the city itself were the two carjackers, taking the vehicle that they'd stolen and moving as quickly as they could through the city. They moved past several houses and stores before finally reaching where they needed to go.

But what they failed to notice was that a Star Light cop, who was a young looking human with dark hair and brown eyes, was nearby, and had seen the car drive through a small alleyway. He managed to sneak around to a safe place nearby the entrance to the alley before speaking into his microphone.

"Star Light, do you read me?"

"Yes, we do," replied the voice on the other line. "What is it?"

"I just caught some possible suspects heading into an alleyway." He paused for a bit. "Should I pursue?"

"Negative," said the base. "Backup is on the way right now. Just wait for them."

"Will do. Over and out."

He sat back against the wall of the alleyway, managing to stay out of site before he heard a car turn the corner close to him. Due to how fast it was going, it was impossible to miss the screeching of the tyres as it reached the corner, parking on the path and stopping as the four inside got out.

"Are you guys the backup?" the human asked.

"Yep," said Sonic. "We're the freelance division. We got a call a while ago about a car being stolen. It started in Green Hill, but they ended up here."

"How'd you know where I was?"

"Star Light got on the horn to us after they finished talking to you," Knuckles replied. "Good thing we were coming up here anyway. The trail was going cold."

The Star Light cop grinned. "Well, thanks for backing me up. My name's Griffiths."

"All right, Griffiths," Sonic spoke. "What's our first course of action here?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"We're just the backup," said Tails. "Are you a fellow rookie?"

The human nodded. "Only been at this a month."

"That's still longer than us," Knuckles smiled. "Just tell us how we should do this, and we'll do it your way."

Griffiths nodded. "All right. They didn't see me at first, and they probably don't know that you're chasing them since you were far away from them in the chase. Now, blue..."

"Sonic," the blue hedgehog said. "Red dude's Knuckles, fox is Tails, and the edge-hog is Shadow."

Griffiths stifled a laugh at the last nickname before going back over his plan. "All right. Sonic, I want you and Shadow to try and box them in from the main entrance to the alley. Block their escape if you can."

"What about the rest of us?" Knuckles asked.

"We're going to try and sneak around the place and see if we can find another way in," said Griffiths. "That way, we cut them off from all sides."

"Eh, there's only two of them," Sonic said. "It'll be easy."

"Might not just be two," Griffiths replied. "All right, you guys ready?"

Sonic and Shadow pulled out their pistols, keeping them at their sides and nodding to the human. He nodded back and walked around to the side of the building with Tails and Knuckles in tow.

As he did, the two hedgehogs remaining walked quickly through the front entrance of the alleyway, holding their guns up. They kept their breathing still as they walked through, spotting the two car thieves as they were taking apart the vehicle.

"Fuck!" one of them said. "Can't find anything in here, man!"

"Just shut up and keep working," said the other one. "There's got to be some good shit in here somewhere..."

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, nodded, then held their guns towards the carjackers. "Freeze!" they both yelled.

The robbers turned and faced the two hedgehogs. "Aw, shit! Cops!"

"If it helps, we technically ain't cops," Sonic said.

"Yeah, that gives me a total confidence boost."

"Knock it off, shit stain, or I'll boost my foot up to meet your nuts," Shadow warned. "Why are you taking this car apart?"

"Why should we tell you?" asked the other robber. "Will it take away any of our jail time?"

"This is really not the best time to ask that," Sonic replied, catching Knuckles, Tails, and Griffiths in the corner of his eye. "Just answer my friend's question."

"He doesn't seem like the type to have friends," said the first robber. "In fact, he looks a little uncomfortable in that uniform..."

"Wait..." Shadow paused. "I thought that I recognised you."

"You know this guy?" Sonic asked.

The black and red hedgehog nodded. "Back in my days with Rouge, he was someone we stole money from. One of the rare times that I actually stole cash."

"Do you know how hard earned that money was?" the robber asked.

"More like hard stolen," Shadow retorted. "Every time that I stole money, that always felt the worst. Sure, stealing food and clothes isn't the best, but at least that kept me full and warm. I only stole money when I absolutely had to."

"That doesn't make this any better, emo kid!" the robber replied. "You stole what was mine!"

"I stole what was already stolen!" Shadow replied. "That doesn't make either of us right or wrong!"

"And what, just because you're a fake-ass cop, you get to decide what's right and what's wrong?"

"He knows the difference a lot better than you do," Sonic replied. "He might have been wrong in the past, sure. But how about you try growing up with next to nothing? After that, try going through the toughest years of your life with no financial help and nowhere else to turn to. See if you turn out the same!"

"Sonic..." Shadow said.

"He might have done bad shit in the past," the blue hedgehog continued, "but he's made up for it by not just becoming a cop, but by becoming better as a person. And of all of us, he's had the hardest road to travel. So don't you guys even fucking dare to tell us right from wrong when you're doing shit like this. Got it?"

The black and red hedgehog smiled at his friend not only putting down the carjackers and boosting his own confidence, but also because of Sonic himself. He looked more comfortable than ever as a person in an position authority, and his knowledge of right from wrong only served to pay dividends.

"All right, sorry for touching your nerves there," said the thief. "Clearly, I overstepped my boundaries."

"So, what is your plan here?" Shadow asked.

"Well, mostly to sell the scrap metal that we get from these cars if there's nothing of worth in them," the carjacker shrugged.

"And have you found anything?"

"We will have if you let us keep looking," said the other robber.

"Something tells me that we're not going to let you do that," Sonic said. "You ass-hats are surrounded, so give up now and come with us quietly."

"So, you have other cops around?" asked the first robber.

Before Sonic could speak, he saw Tails, Knuckles, and Griffiths being pushed forward at gunpoint. There was only one other carjacker there, but he had a shotgun with him, and it was enough to push the three forward.

That was when another bad guy appeared from behind a nearby dumpster, aiming his gun at Sonic and Shadow. "Drop the guns or we drop your friends."

"Fuck..." Sonic said. "All right, just cool it, okay?" He then lowered his gun down to the ground, as did Shadow. "Better?"

"Much better," said the bad guy. "But the others have to drop their guns too."

Knuckles turned as he heard the shotgun behind him cocking, and he nodded, slowly leaning down to place his gun on the ground, closely followed by Tails and Griffiths soon after, and all three stood up when the deed was done.

"All right, we did what you wanted," said Sonic. "So tell me, what are you going to do now that you have us at your mercy?"

"Well, we have a bunch of cops with us, one of them from this very city. We're all in a far off alleyway, and the bad guys have guns whilst the good guys have nothing more than words and their last breaths. I think that we're going to kill you and find a good place to dump your bodies."

"Like I said," the blue hedgehog replied, "we ain't cops."

"With that armour, those weapons, and that attitude? You're definitely cops." The robber then smiled. "I think that we should kill the Star Light dude first. I mean, he's not with you, so why the fuck should you care?"

Griffiths was hit in the back by the man with the shotgun, causing him to drop to his knees. His hands were still raised, and he took a deep breath as he felt the muzzle of the shotgun press up against the back of his head.

"Any last words?"

Griffiths just breathed through his nose. "Just fucking do it if you're going to do it."

The robber shrugged, cocking his shotgun. As he was about to pull the trigger, however, Tails quickly reached behind his back and pulled out a knife, stabbing it into the side of the shot-gunner, causing him to scream in pain and drop his weapon.

Knuckles quickly picked it up and, without missing a beat, pulled the trigger in the direction of the furthest away bad guy, managing to hit him with some of the buckshot and cause him to fly back before turning his aim to the two who were holding up Sonic and Shadow.

"Let me and my friends go, or your asses are next," the red echidna warned.

The two nodded, quietly going to put their guns down, but they both got a gleam in their eye at the last moment and started firing at the two hedgehogs. Sonic managed to dive and roll out of the way, and Shadow went to move, but suddenly felt strange.

Instead of rolling out of the way, he suddenly found his body just appearing where he'd wanted to go. He went for a roll like Sonic as to move out of the way, and so when he just appeared in this new place, he landed into that roll.

The two robbers still remaining looked on at this. "What the fuck..." said one.

"They're fucking enhanced! We've got to get out of here!" said the other.

As this was going on, the robber that Tails stabbed pulled the blade from his side, going to use it on Tails. Shadow peeked over his cover and saw this, and was about to call the yellow fox's name before Tails' suddenly bolted several feet up into the air to avoid it.

"Holy shit!" he said as he rocketed upwards. His ears flickered as he turned around to see his tails spinning. "I'm... flying? Why am I flying?"

"Get back down here, freak!" called the robber with the knife. "I'm going to cut those tails off! They'd fetch a better price than any car that we could sell!"

Tails smiled. "Maybe you shouldn't focus on me, but on the echidna next to you."

The carjacker turned around to see the red echidna in question. Before either could speak, Knuckles simply twisted the man's arm and caused him to drop the knife, which Griffiths then picked up and threw at the remaining robbers, the blade landing in one of their shoulders perfectly, causing them to yelp in pain.

"Fucking hell!" the uninjured carjacker said, aiming his gun up at Tails. He fired several times, but the yellow fox dodged each one. "Stay still, you stupid dog!"

"I'm a fox, you idiot!" Tails replied. "And once again, don't focus on me!"

The carjacker looked around to see Sonic pick up his gun and fire, the bullet hitting the carjacker in the shin. It was enough to down him and didn't hit anything important, so he fell down, clutching his injured leg.

"Fucking shit!" he yelped out. "If I bleed out before you get me patched up, I'm suing!"

"You're going to bring up the legal system to four dudes who can do whatever the fuck they want?" Sonic asked, grinning at the others, who nodded and played along.

"Yeah, we've got nothing to lose," Tails added as he flew back down. "This wasn't even for our benefit, so we're not going to take any credit. It's all for Griffiths."

"He's the one who actually came up with the plan," said Knuckles, being the only one to sprinkle some truth into the matter. "You all got taken down by one dude who just happened to have some really good outside help."

Shadow walked over to the shot down thief, recognising that it was the one who he stole from many years before. "See that, dickhead? That is right from wrong." He then lifted his shoe and pressed it down slowly and tortuously on the man's wound, causing him to sputter in pain. "This might look wrong, but honestly, it feels right."

"How about you go fuck yourself..." said the robber, his voice taking on a pained tone. "You... you want to tell me about how right from wrong works when you stole money?"

"Stolen money," Shadow grunted, pressing his foot down harder and twisting it back and forth. "I might have taken it, but I was desperate. I was homeless, and hungry, and damn near naked. I took what was already taken, but at least I put it to good use. What's your excuse? What were you going to do with that money that I could have just as easily done if I were anything like you?"

"Probably made a good profit out of that fucking whore that you used to hang around with," the man grunted again, but laughed a bit. "I'll bet that a body like hers would fetch a lot of cash and cock in. And to think, she's even older now. Imagine how good she-"

Shadow instantly pulled out his gun and fired a bullet at the ground to the left of the man's head. "One more word, and the next one will be an inch or so closer to... let's say, right between the eyes."

"He's a damn good shot," Knuckles added on. "He probably could shoot you literally right between your eyes."

"And if you don't want that to happen," Shadow said, his foot now stomping on the thief's wound, "you'll shut the fuck up and wait until Star Light's finest get here to take your ass to jail. You talked about cock, right? Well, maybe there'll be a guy there who can provide it for you."

The thief chuckled. "Come on. I thought that you had nothing to lose, right? Go ahead. Shoot me. Shoot me right fucking now. You've got me where you want me. I'm injured and being held down on the ground against my will with a bullet in my fucking leg, blood pouring everywhere. So what's a little more?"

"You're not worth it." Shadow shook his head and lifted his foot from the man's injured wound. He then looked down at the bottom of his shoe. "Aw... I got blood on it."

The others chuckled, and then Griffiths spoke. "I called them earlier. It won't be long now."

"All right, let's check the others," Sonic said. "I think that one of them might actually be dead."

"I would say my bad, but I honestly don't feel that bad about it," Knuckles shrugged. "He was stealing car parts and was trying to kill us all. Kinda hard to feel guilty after that."

"Before we check them, can I quickly do something?" Shadow asked.

Before anyone could answer his question, the black and red hedgehog walked over to the bad guy with the injured leg. Shadow reached his hands down to spread open the man's legs before stepping back a bit and winding up a foot, kicking the thief directly in his genitals, causing him to reach down as he groaned out lowly in pain.

"Okay," Shadow nodded, "we can check the others now."

"You just had to get that one in there, huh?" Tails said.

"He pushed the Rouge button," Knuckles replied. "You don't do that around Shadow."

"And he says he doesn't care about her," Sonic smirked.

"Want me to kick you in the dick too, blue boy?" Shadow asked. "Because I will."

The blue hedgehog chortled. "I'll pass, thanks." He then went to the bad guy from the dumpster, seeing several bloody holes in his stomach. He reached down to feel the man's pulse, but didn't get anything. "Yeah, the guy that Knuckles shot is definitely dead."

"Maybe we should have checked before I made the call," said Griffiths. "Good thing that I asked for a coroner just in case."

"Yeah, well, we have one confirmed fatality, at least," Sonic said. "The others will live, although one of them may never be able to reproduce."

"We've got enough ass-holes in this world," Shadow shrugged. "We don't need any more aspiring ass-holes to join the ranks."

Tails laughed a bit as his friends' conversation as he checked over the one he himself had stabbed. He saw that he was alive, and checked his stomach wound. "I gave this guy such a light wound, and it was enough to break them off of us."

"That's a good sign," said Knuckles as he looked around. "I've found some other missing car parts here and there, but nothing too concrete to hold them down."

"You find any license plates for them?" asked Griffiths.

"Yeah," the red echidna nodded. "It's only like three, but one was from Green Hill, one from Star Light, and the last one was from Scrap Metal City," Knuckles said.

"Scrap Metal City is the biggest industrial structure in Mobius," Tails noted. "Why wouldn't they just take it apart and sell it there?"

"That city didn't get by on cheap car parts, dude," Sonic said. "It has its industry because of how it was built, not because of what people sold to build it."

"Doesn't your dad have a good pipeline there?" Shadow asked Tails.

"He does," the yellow fox nodded. "In fact, sometimes he even drives there himself to deliver whatever they need. He was a big contributor back in the day, but he couldn't work up there full-time due to jurisdiction rules." He scoffed a bit. "That rule applies to both law officers and construction workers."

"Yeah," Sonic remembered. "He might specialise in cyber parts for people, along with your mum, but they gave them some good tools to help as well."

Shadow's ears then perked up as he heard sirens. "All right, looks like the cavalry arrived."

The others nodded, waiting as a pair of Star Light vehicles pulled up outside the alleyway. The cops that Sonic and the other three recognised from the night of the crash where amongst them, sans the caiman.

"Oh, great. It's you idiots again," said the orange cat.

"We missed you too, dude!" said Sonic.

"Wish I could say the same," Cameron chuckled. "If you're wondering where Walsh is, he's busy, so you just get me and Spencer."

"And Griffiths," Tails replied. "He's a good kid."

"Yeah, he ain't been around long, but he's talented," Spencer replied. "Before you know it, he might even get his own implant."

"Ink first," Griffiths shrugged. "Awesome robot superpowers later."

"Who knows what effect it could have on him?" Tails asked. "He's one of the only human cops that I've seen on any force. Maybe it'll have different effects on him."

"Yeah, maybe," Cameron shrugged. "Anyways, as much as I'd hate to cut this short, we've got a job to do."

"Oh, you mean the one that we just did for you?" Sonic grinned.

"Come on," Spencer added. "If it were all you, there wouldn't just be one fatality, and you probably would have come up with a shitty plan."

"Good thing that your newbie came up with it then," Tails said.

The blue hedgehog laughed a bit and walked over to the cat to shake his hand. "Thanks for taking care of this."

Cameron smiled. "Eh, you guys have to take care of everything if you can now. It'd just be unfair for us to help you in return."

"And this time, we don't get in trouble for it!" said Spencer.

"You didn't get in trouble last time," Knuckles pointed out. "We did. That's why we're freelancers now."

The others nodded in reply, with the exception of Griffiths, who stayed with his fellow Star Light officers. They shook their heads as they watched the freelance group walk off, talking amongst themselves.

"We really should workshop a better name," Sonic said.

"Ooh, I know!" Knuckles said, getting in the driver's seat. "The Fabulous Freelancers!"

"Doesn't quite sound... it doesn't... Sonic stumbled. "Just... no."

"The Freedom Fighters?" Tails said.

"Sounds like something from a comic book," Sonic shrugged. "I like it, but we're not exactly fighting for freedom. We're fighting to help these citizens."

"The Peacekeepers?" Shadow suggested.

"Not bad. At least it's not the Fabulous Freelancers," the blue hedgehog grinned. "But we still need to work on it."

"Eh, it'll come to us," Knuckles shrugged as the engine kicked in. "Let's get back to the base."

"Something tells me that a new name isn't all that we should talk about," Tails shrugged.

"Yeah... that was weird what happened," Shadow said as the drive started.

"What exactly was it that happened to you?" Sonic asked. "The first thing that happened was that we rolled in opposite directions, but then it was like you disappeared for a nanosecond then reappeared like three feet away from where you were."

"Well, what about Tails?" the black and red hedgehog asked. "I've never seen the term fight or flight used quite so literally. I've also never seen the two done at the same time."

"Yeah... I really took off there," Tails said. "It happened during my date with Cosmo when she kissed me. I got excited and started flying a little bit..." He blushed.

"Aw..." the other three said in unison.

"Eh, shut up," the yellow fox smirked.

Sonic laughed and soon pulled himself together. "Well, I think that we should make a turn for Green Hill and see if Rotor's not too busy with a corpse."

Knuckles smiled. "I got no problem with that." He then pressed down on the gas, the car soon hitting the highway and making its way back to Green Hill City.

Back at Westopolis with Nack...

The purple weasel had his hat pulled over his head, with the rim of it covering his eyes as he slept peacefully. Soon, that sleep was interrupted by a shrug on his left shoulder, and his eyes opened to see one of his henchmen speak.

"We're at Manuel's," he said.

"Ah, good," Nack replied. He brushed over his suit, checking for any dirt and smiling to see that he was clean. "Let's go and pay him a visit, shall we?"

Inside the building, Manuel was in a high up catwalk, watching over as two Mobians fought. He watched as several of his men cheered, making new bets on the fly as to who the winner would be.

The bull wore a dark green hoodie, black baggy jeans, and brown combat boots. The two Mobians - a male salamander with green scales and a male spider with black and red stripes - went back and forth at each other.

Things began to come to a head when the salamander pushed back. He slipped a punch from the spider and landed a front kick to his stomach, pushing him back against the cage. The spider was still stunned, and was feebly defending his head as his opponent rained punches on his stomach, landing a hard one that caused the spider to spit up blood and scream in agony before falling to the floor.

Manuel shook his head, grabbing the megaphone from his back. "Call it off!" he yelled to the ground level. "Fight's over!"

The spider was dragged out, but still breathing, and the salamander celebrated before walking out the cage and into a hug from some of his fellow men, not to mention a sum of cash being pushed into his hands.

As Manuel watched, he failed to notice another of his men coming up to him from the left. "Sir, Nack is here."

The bull grinned before picking up the megaphone again. "Gentlemen, we have a special guest star at our door. Please, refrain from any further fights until I return. You know the rules."

The crowd all agreed in a variety of answers and gestures, and Manuel nodded to the one next to him before walking with him past the catwalks. They reached a stair case that led up a floor, coming up to the main base of the building.

The floor for the main base was comprised of black tiles, making any stains easy to clean up. Much like Lara had done with her share of Nack's money, Manuel had spruced his own place up a bit, turning it from a drab warehouse to a drab warehouse with nicer looking floors

Well, there was more to it than that, obviously. The walls were painted up, making the place look more like a gym, even though the only fighting done was very much illegal. Granted, there was an actual gym for Manuel and his men to exercise, but all fighting was done in the cage.

Also on the main floor were a small office where Manuel would mostly reside, a security room with monitors, and a boardroom where the bull himself would make his plans on where to push his guns.

The bull smiled around at his place before opening the door. "Nack. What brings you here?" he asked, stepping aside.

"I'm paying visits to all of my new business associates to see how things are going," the purple weasel replied, stepping through, followed by his two men. "I already said hi to Lara, and after you I'm going to see Beau."

Manuel nodded. "Can I get you anything? Drinks?"

"We're fine, I think," Nack said, turning to his men. "You two want anything?"

"Nah, we're good," they both replied in unison.

The weasel then took a look around. "I see that you did a bit of refurbishing."

"The money that you gave me was more than enough," Manuel replied, "but I didn't spend it all on this. I didn't even spend it all on product."

"The girls, then?"

Manuel nodded. "Yeah. That's not an issue, is it?"

Nack shook his head. "Of course it isn't. You're doing what you think is best to look after them. Setting some money aside for their future doesn't shake our trust in the slightest."

Manuel nodded. "Good."

"So, how are plans going?" Nack asked.

"Very well. We decided to start with a small shipment at first. I've got a reliable Westopolis cop who's bought from me before, but since he knows that I've upgraded, he also knows that it'll cost more, depending."

"Start slow, then work your way up." Nack chuckled and nodded. "I would expect nothing less from you."

Manuel shrugged. "I may run guns and fighting, but I know where to run them to."

"Indeed you do," Nack said. "You mentioned that you've upgraded?"

Manuel smirked. "I'll show you. Right this way, compadre."

The bull turned to walk, and Nack and his men followed. Manuel led them near the back of the base floor to a staircase which he went down, followed by the other two. As they continued the walk, Nack and his men saw the cage.

"You're running one at home?" Nack asked.

"Eh, it makes things interesting," Manuel said. "With my guys making more money with better trainers from the money that you gave me, they make a lot of cash in the underground fighting circuits."

"You left out the word 'illegal', there."

"It's only illegal if it ain't in Westopolis," Manuel replied, continuing down the staircase and to the bottom floor.

He led Nack and his men to the opposite side from the cage, showing a few cells along a wall, all filled with various types of guns. The cells even sorted them out by type; one was full of pistols, another had revolvers, then shotguns, machine guns, SMGs, LMGs, and so on.

"You've got a good mix, here," Nack smiled, seeing some LMGs missing. "You're a little short there."

"That's the first thing that my guy in the force wanted to try out," Manuel said. "He said that they're running low in the force."

"Does the force know where their guns come from?"

"Of course not," Manuel said. "My guy is reliable. He knows what's at stake, so he's not going to put any of our necks on the line."

"That's good. Reliability is such a good quality amongst people like us," Nack said. "See, you and I can reliably trust each other that anything unreliable results in death. Or possibly worse."

"I understand that," Manuel said. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Go right ahead."

The bull smiled. "How would you like to not just watch a fight, but call it?"

"I get to pick the fighters?" Nack asked. "I don't see why not."

Manuel smirked, and led Nack back up the staircase to the main catwalk. He then handed the purple weasel his megaphone. "Use this to get their attention and make the fight."

Nack nodded, speaking into the megaphone. "May I have your attention, please?" he said, causing the clamouring Mobians from below to look up to him. He then continued. "For those of you who don't know, I'm Nack. I'm half of the reason that you're all here. The other half is Manuel, whom I trust bought some good fighters to be on his side. In regards to that, I'd like to make a fight."

"Who are you going to pick?" asked one of Nack's men.

Nack smiled and looked around, seeing an eagle with red feathers and hazel eyes, wearing a black tank top, blue jeans and grey boots. "You. And... let's see..." Nack trailed off as he kept searching before settling on a bear with black fur, red eyes, wearing nothing up top, and sporting black jeans and dark blue sneakers. "You."

The two Mobians both nodded and went into the cage. As there wasn't a referee, Nack knew that he had to call it himself, and Manuel spoke. "Tell them to touch gloves."

"A sign of respect?" Nack grinned. "I like it." He spoke into the megaphone. "All right, I want a good, clean fight. Well, as clean as you can make it. No biting, pulling, or attacks to the genitalia. And no weapons. Touch gloves." The two in the cage did. "Now, fight!"

The eagle and bear circled around each other, each searching for an opening before the eagle moved in first, landing a side kick to the bull's left thigh. They both fought orthodox, but the eagle was switching things up a bit more, turning to southpaw and landing a left kick to the bull's stomach.

"That eagle's good," Nack noted.

"Yeah, he's got a kickboxing background," said Manuel. "Was taking some jiu-jitsu as well. He was riding a scholarship, but he got framed for possession of drugs. Nobody believed him, but they couldn't fully prove him guilty where he was, so he wound up here. Then I employed him, and here he is now."

Nack nodded. "What about the bear?"

"He grew up in Westopolis," Manuel said. "He's a friend of mine. One of the first guys that I hired. Not everyone that I bought was new, and he might be older, but he's also a lot smarter."

"A young gun against an older dog, then?" the purple weasel grinned. "Very interesting."

The eagle went for another switch kick, but it was caught and he was soon pushed back up against the cage, his leg still held up. The bear spun and managed to sweep the eagle, taking him down and mounting his chest, beginning to rain down punches.

The eagle threw his arms over his face to protect himself, but he didn't anticipate the shots that would land to his body. He suffered several punches to the point him tasting blood in the back of his mouth, but he kept holding on.

Manuel looked to Nack. "Might be time to call the fight."

Nack shook his head. "It only ends with a KO or a tap out. The kid can hold on for a little longer."

The bear kept landing blow after blow, but he soon felt his arms starting to tire. One of his next strikes was a little slower, and the eagle caught it, and whilst the bear was focused on that, the eagle managed to free his legs and bring them up, wrapping his left leg across the back of the bear's neck, his right draping over until the back of his right knee met his left foot, and he pulled down on the head, forcing the tap.

Nack smiles. "All right, fight's over! The eagle wins with a really impressive triangle choke!"

The two fighters stood up and shook hands before the bear raised the eagle's hand in victory. As the two left, the eagle reached down to his stomach, the punches whilst he was mounted having caught up to him.

"Hell of a fight," Nack said to Manuel. "You really did pick some good guys."

The bull nodded. "We'll keep you posted. Just let me know if you need anything, homes."

"I will," the purple weasel smiled, shaking the bull's hand. "I'd best be on my way. I've got one more place to visit."

"Take care."

"I'll try to," Nack nodded.

He was then seen out by Manuel, all the way back to the front door, and Nack and his men soon reached the car. The weasel got into the back as his men got in the front, starting the car up.

"To Beau's now, sir?" the driver asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Nack replied, looking to his man in the passenger seat. "Would you mind putting on some music for me?"

"Not at all," the man replied. "What kind?"

"Hmm... something classical," Nack said.

"I've got just the thing."

The purple weasel then grinned and laid back as a melody of violins from an orchestra played. Much like with Lara, he was thankful that things went well with Manuel, who was certainly the most reliable, whereas Lara is the most business-savvy.

All that was left was Beau.

And here it is! Sorry that it took so long. I just had nights where I straight up didn't write, and I had everything there, but I just got lazy. Sorry. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed! I'll see you in the next one. Take care, and stay tuned.